French lawmakers ousted the government of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in a confidence vote Monday, plunging Europe’s second-largest economy into fresh turmoil and forcing President Emmanuel Macron to seek a fourth prime minister in a year.
Bayrou was ousted overwhelmingly in a 364-194 vote against him. Bayrou paid the price for what appeared to be a staggering political miscalculation, gambling that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to repair its debts. Instead, they seized on the vote that he called to gang up against Bayrou - a 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December.
The demise of Bayrou's short-lived minority government - now constitutionally obliged to submit its resignation to Macron after just under nine months in office - heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Although Macron had two weeks to prepare for the government collapse after Bayrou announced in August that he'd seek a confidence vote on his unpopular budget plans, no clear front-runner has emerged as a successor.
